Panel to probe death of liver donor

"In liver donation, it is a tragedy for the recipient to die post-transplantation - but the worst case scenario has occurred in India, with the donor also dying. The infection committee at Mumbai's King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital will run tests in its gastroenterology post-operative ward to check if a 53-year-old liver donor died after contracting an infection there on Sunday. Sindhu Waikar, 53, donated part of her liver to her son, Rahul, 33, on November 3. Rahul died five days later, to his family's despair - and his mother contracted pneumonia and died on Sunday.

Sindhu Waikar's death is the first death of a donor since liver transplants began in Mumbai in 2005. What is known as the most affordable liver transplant program at the KEM was set back with the death of a recipient and donor, according to hospital officials and health experts. KEM will stop live donor transplants for about a month, according to Dr Chetan Kantharia, head of surgical gastroenterology at KEM and head of the liver transplant program. Rahul had liver failure for about a year before the transplant. Once it was complete he never regained consciousness and died on November 8.

'The doctors had explained that such surgery carries a high risk for the recipient. What we were not ready for was a risk to the donor too,' said Sandip, Rahul's brother. Hospital dean Dr Sanjay Oak told the Times of India: 'We have set protocols which have been adopted. The panel will look into the case.'" ~ Times of India, Dec 7; Mumbai Mirror, Dec 6

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In March 2005, I've initiated a blog about bioethics. Organ replacement technologies and genomics are part of today's sustainable health economics. This is not medicine under ideological pressure ! ...